Email scam?

ARMatey
Contributor
Contributor

I received and email today from PayPal that seems suspicious. 

It stated  "We're contacting you to acknowledge that you've authorized us to use the following bank account(s) to fund PayPal transactions, where you choose a bank account as your funding source:"

 

I haven't authorized anything. 

Anyone else get a suspicious email?

Thanks

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29 REPLIES 29

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hi everyone! 

 

I can definitely understand the concern regarding receiving this email after not making any changes. This email is in fact from PayPal, and is simply a notice regarding our Pre-Authorized Debits procedure and that your listed bank will be utilized to complete them. If the bank listed isn't accurate, you may need to update that information using the details listed here. I hope this helps!

 

- Ashley M


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Do_something
Contributor
Contributor

I called customer service and they stated that this is a phishing scam! Can somebody at Paypal figure this out and alert us on what is going on! As you can imagine this presents a very serious data breach if someone has access to first and last name, email and bank account information and is possibly phishing for more info.  Please address this with Urgency PAYPAL AND ALERT YOUR CUSTOMERS either way. 

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Do_something
Contributor
Contributor

I would also like to add that email was sent from <removed> which is supposedly a scam email. So I don't think this paypal moderator response is accurate... Either way, would be great if PAYPAL did their homework and informed their customers in a harmonized way. Watching this space.

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ARMatey
Contributor
Contributor

Agreed! This is disturbing. Email I received came from the same email address which I thought was weird and not valid.

I hope PayPal can sort this out, who's phishing and who's been hacked

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kelseyleigh
Member
Member

I'm not trying to be rude, but I just went off on PayPal's Twitter Customer Service team. This is the convo I just had. It's shocking to me they would confirm 5 times that the email was automatic, implying it was legitimate, when this email was indeed a spam. Who is seriously working for PayPal? The scam artists themselves?

 

 

 

Me [7:32pm]: Hi PayPal I got this fraud email today. I don’t have any account ending in ____ linked to my account

 

PayPal [8:00pm]: Hello there, thank you for contacting PayPal. I'm sorry to hear about the trouble and I do apologize for any inconvenience. To ensure that I provide you with the correct information, can you please write back to me with the email address and country associated with your PayPal account? The more information I have the better I can assist you. To protect your private information, please delete the screenshot and message that includes the card/bank details. As social media isn't a secure form of communication, we don't recommend sharing personal details here. ^AV

 

Me [8:01pm]: Oh yes sorry ______ from Canada

 

PayPal [8:56pm]: Thanks for the details. We are aware of the email being circulated and there is no action needed from your end. Additionally, this was an automated email and that the wording might incorrectly reference a card number as a bank number. Here’s how to view your preferred payment method: LINK. You can also refer to this link to know more information about pre-authorized debits: LINK. ^AV

 

Me [9:32pm]: Thanks PayPal! I just wanted to make sure you were aware of this spam email

 

PayPal [10:31pm]: Please be advised, this was an automated email sent and there is no action needed from your end. Your understanding is appreciated. Have a great day. ^AV

 

Me [10:34pm]: No, it’s incorrect. The 4 digits in the email don’t relate to any account number I have??

 

PayPal [10:41pm]: I'm sorry to hear that. In situations like this, I'd recommend you check your 'Wallet' page to see if the same card number is updated in any of cards that you have added. The wording might incorrectly reference a card number as a bank number. ^AV

 

Me [10:52pm]: I did check that. Nothing references the 4 digits in the email that was sent to me?

 

PayPal [11:11pm]: I can certainly relate to your situation here. As it was an automated email, it is possible that it could have been an older card or bank. If you aren't aware about the information, you may go ahead and change your password and security questions by referring to this link: LINK. Please be advised, there is no action needed from your end about the email that you have received. ^AV

 

Me [11:14pm]: I don’t know how many times I have to explain there’s no where on my account with these 4 digits in the email that was sent. I’m well aware no action on my part is required, but this comes off as a spam email and makes me question the security of your services. Not to mention the email is not formatted the same way the typical PayPal emails are….

 

PayPal [11:17pm]: My apologies for any frustration this may have caused. To best address your concern, I will ask a Specialist to check things out and reply to you here as soon as possible. Your patience is appreciated as messages are worked in the order they are received. ^AV

 

Me [11:17pm]: https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32557869-Pre-authorized-debit-acknowledgement-Email-from-Paypal

 

There's a whole thread about this right now. Your security team needs to look into this ASAP, because I'm not the only one who's questioning this and the 4 digits not matching up. I've never had a bank account with these digits, but for sake of argument with what some people are saying in that thread with a very old account # matching, I agree with what others are saying. Why on earth would you be sending that out relating to an old account or non-existing account #? This is extremely sloppy on your security team.

 

https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/My-Money/Email-scam/td-p/1941297/page/2

 

As per the 2nd page from "Do_something" today at 4:22pm, they confirmed when they called PayPal they stated that this is a phishing scam. They also confirmed <removed> is a scam email. Your security team needs to be notified ASAP about this, because this is an extreme issue, especially when you confirmed 5 times this was an automated email. FIVE times? When this is indeed a phishing scam? Are you kidding me PayPal? For such a large financial corporation, you seriously need to get your security in check and educate your employees ASAP when something like this arises so they don't provide inaccurate information especially with a scam email stating it's legitimate....

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Solved

PayPal_AshleyM
Moderator
Moderator

Hey everyone,

 

Thank you so much for bringing your additional concerns regarding these emails to our attention, and I apologize for any frustration you've encountered regarding this situation. 

 

For clarification, this post is marked as the solution simply to float it to the top of the thread. This ensures that anyone that opens this post sees the reply. I understand that some may not feel the issue is resolved, but this is simply to keep the response at the top. Thanks for your understanding.

 

Regarding the post, the email address being used is owned by PayPal. Again, this email in the form that has previously been described is from PayPal. If you have received an email that sounds similar but doesn't match the previous description, or you feel the email is not legitimate, you can forward the email to spoof@paypal.com to verify the validity of the message.

 

I apologize for the confusion regarding information given by some of our team - I'll ensure that feedback is passed on and that our whole team is informed correctly regarding these emails.

 

Thanks for your time and understanding regarding this, please let us know here if you have any additional questions or concerns. 🙂

 

- Ashley M


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angemac23
New Community Member

Does anyone know what this email I received means?

  Pre-authorized debit acknowledgement
 
 

Hi Andrea <removed>,

 
 
We're contacting you to acknowledge that you've authorized us to use the following bank account(s) to fund PayPal transactions, where you choose a bank account as your funding source:

Ending in <removed>
 
There is no action needed from you. You can view the terms of the Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement by visiting PayPal.com, clicking on Legal at the bottom of the page, and then selecting PayPal PAD Agreement.
 
If you have questions about any of these terms or your account, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for being a PayPal customer.

Sincerely,

PayPal
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ericleb010
Contributor
Contributor
Just got a similar email, different account number. Not seeing any activity on my account out of the ordinary. I'm assuming this was a bug with Paypal notifications.
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angemac23
New Community Member

oh ok so at least I wasn't the only one who received....however, the scary thing with my email is it actually said my bank account number in it...or the last 4 digits at least so hopefully nothing starts happening without my authorization because I didn't authorize anything different!

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MrsAnderson
Contributor
Contributor
I just got this as well but not my account number.
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